Seahawks 3rd Down Notebook: Week 8, Dallas Cowboys

A few thoughts on the Seahawks offense on 3rd down against the Dallas Cowboys, Week 8:

-- The Seahawks suffered a lull from the Red Zone 3rd down on Drive 1 until Drive 8 (in the 4th Quarter). They went 0-for-5 on 3rd down during that stretch, which included two drives that never hit 3rd down (a touchdown drive, and the Interception drive).

-- At halftime, the Seahawks were 1-of-5 on 3rd down and I think I mentioned at the time that they would need to convert about four 3rd downs in the second half to win -- and that is exactly what they did. After opening the 2nd half with a 3-and-out, the Seahawks converted four of the next six 3rd downs before the final whistle. Seattle finished the Cowboys game 5-of-12 (42%) on 3rd down, which matched their output versus the 49ers.

-- I don't believe the Seahawks can afford to have a lull like they did in Dallas against Arizona this week, and I still believe they need to connect on 5 or more 3rd down opportunities to win on Sunday Night. 

-- The median down and distance was 5.5 yards (same distance as the San Francisco game) and the longest down and distance was the final 3rd down (3rd and 11). Even the final 3rd down was a situation where Seattle was in "everyone knows were are going to run, but we don't care" -- and was more of a clock play than anything else. The Seahawks have been getting into manageable 3rd downs, they just need to pay them off when they get there.

-- The Seahawks are showing some improvement on 3rd down and 3-to-6 yards to go. They went 3-of-7 against the Cowboys (43%) after going 2-of-4 (50%) from this distance range against the 49ers. After the first four weeks the Seahawks were only 5-of-21 from this distance (23.8%) but have gone 10-of-22 (45.4%) from this distance over the last four games. For the season they are 34.9% from 3-to-6 yards to go, and Darrell Bevell has said in pressers that their goal is to be 50% from this distance.

I will post he 49ers game numbers in a day or so along with some more 3rd down tables at the halfway mark, stay tuned...